


After Years Of Waiting

by Krasimer



Series: And Now a Flower Grows 'Verse [11]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Depression, F/M, Frisk is a Sweetheart, Gen, References to Depression, SAVED Asriel Dreemurr, Sans Needs A Hug, Sans recovers from depression, What do you do with a life you never thought you'd get to live?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 15:40:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11947335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krasimer/pseuds/Krasimer
Summary: Papyrus noticed it sometimes, excited for his brother, and would tell him that he looked “Extra happy that morning!” and that he needed to eat before he went off to work. Sans would pretend like he was hesitant about it and Papyrus would go off on some speech about how food was important and breakfast was the most important meal and yeah yeah yeah…But he woke up feeling different one day.





	After Years Of Waiting

He woke up feeling different one morning.

The reintegration of Asriel should have been harder than it was. A child, dust for years, simply coming back to life because the human child adopted by their mom had tugged gently on a save file?

But they had gotten used to it.

Sans had gotten used to sometimes waking up to find two faces peering at him from the edge of the bed, two children afraid of some noise they had heard in the darkness outside. Sans had gotten used to waking up next to Toriel, the love of his life. Sans had gotten used to waking up and leaving the house to go to work. Gotten used to going to work and finding both Alphys and his father in attendance. Finding both of them discussing theories with a practiced vigor.

Had gotten used to feeling awake and aware all the time.

Just like, once upon a time, he had gotten used to being resigned to never having those things.

Papyrus noticed it sometimes, excited for his brother, and would tell him that he looked “Extra happy that morning!” and that he needed to eat before he went off to work. Sans would pretend like he was hesitant about it and Papyrus would go off on some speech about how food was important and breakfast was the most important meal and yeah yeah yeah…

But he woke up feeling different one day.

For the first time since they had escaped the underground, he hadn’t woken up expecting to see the stone walls surrounding him again. It had been over a year since they had gotten out. Frisk had gotten into school and been officially adopted and Sans had lived with Toriel for five months. Had lived with her and her new child and her old child and been a sort-of-father to the both of them.

He almost felt like-

He stopped in his tracks, the tune he was humming dying in his throat. Was that what it was?

Heh.

Sans looked around before he opened one of his shortcuts, ending up at the end of the driveway of their house. Like he had hoped, Frisk and Asriel were playing on the lawn, both of them still under the rule of supervised magic. “Hey kids,” he called out, walking towards them and crouching next to Frisk before dropping to actually sit. “Mind if I ask you somethin’?”

Frisk tilted their head, hands shifting into the sign that meant they wanted him to continue.

“Feelin’ a bit different lately. You still can check people, right?” Sans gestured at himself. “D’ya mind?”

Frisk concentrated, their dark eyes narrowing as they moved a hand like they were tugging on something. Their mouth dropped open after a moment and they squeaked, clapping their hands together. “Oh,” they managed to get the word out, grinning at Sans.

“Yeah?”

Their voice failed them and they switched to signing. _‘Eighty HP,’_ they informed him. _‘You have one-hundred-twenty-five HP out of eighty.’_

“Well,” Sans blinked a couple of times, then nodded. “How ‘bout that. Guess I’m still working off that extra from sleeping all the time.” He poked Frisk in the ribs, grinning when they giggled. “Thanks, kid. Gonna go have a heart-to-heart with Tori now.”

As he stood up, he ruffled Asriel’s fur as well, walking past both of them and entering the house.

He stood with his back to the door for a few minutes, trying to stay calm.

Eighty HP.

He was still lower than he should have been, given how he had been once upon a time. It was a far cry, however, from the one HP he had been wandering around the Underground with. Always sleeping had put him far above it, the Hope in dreams adding to the level he had when he was awake.

Sans stretched himself out, feeling his bones rattle quietly.

That was what felt different. He didn’t feel as brittle, didn’t feel as broken or as rubbed raw by simply existing. He had woken up feeling different and feeling different was because of him recovering his HP.

With a small grunt, Sans pushed off the door and moved into the bathroom, staring at himself in the mirror. His bones were a brighter white, not the dingy almost-gray they had been. He looked more like Papyrus now, bright and full of life.

He looked happy.

Sans put a hand on the mirror, studying himself even further. He felt a little like crying. He looked happy for the first time in what felt like centuries. He had Toriel, he had Frisk and Asriel, he had his family back together. If he wanted to, he could walk out of the house and walk down the street and go see his father. He could wander through a shortcut and find Papyrus and know that his little brother was doing alright.

His friends and family were safe and happy.

He was safe and happy.

For a moment, he hesitated, afraid of what he would see, but Sans let the glow of his eye shine. In his reflection, there were two glowing-blue circles. He could make both of them glow again.

Okay, forget just feeling like he could cry.

There were drops of magically-created tears rolling down his face and his entire body was quietly rattling as he stared at himself.

For the first time in a long, long time, he could see himself in the mirror.

It wasn’t just a broken, already half-dead him that wouldn’t go anywhere. It wasn’t someone who was already dust and their body just hadn’t gotten the memo yet.

For the first time in ages, Sans could see himself in the mirror.

He could see himself and see the person he had been once.

Sans grinned at the mirror, letting the glow fade out of his eyes. With a chuckle, he left the bathroom and continued down the hall to Toriel’s office, knocking his knuckles on the door and waiting until she called out for him to enter before he did so.

“Hey Tori,” he walked over to her and rested his chin on her shoulder, sighing contentedly.

Everything was going to be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Sans, how is life on the Surface treating you?
> 
> Really well?
> 
> Well, that's good. 
> 
> (Sidenote: In my 'Verse, HP stands for Hope. I don't really know why, it just made sense to me at the time and now I'm stuck with the headcanon.)
> 
> Anyway, tell me what you thought?


End file.
